For busy working parents, daycare is the best option to care for babies and children. Learn what to look for in a daycare with expert tips in this parenting video.
Ask about spontaneous visits
Check web cam feed of children
Assure staff is approachable
Dr. Ferrara has worked with children and adult survivors of abuse for over twenty years in CT, NY and FL. She is currently in private practice in Tampa, FL and affiliated with the University of South Florida as adjunct associate professor.
FELICIA FERRARA: Hello. I am Doctor Felicia the parent coach. And I have been working with families and children for over twenty five years. I would like to share with you some important tips on how, what to look for in a daycare. Once you choose daycare, what you want to do is really get in closer and ask the owners if you can come in any time, if they have an open enrollment where parents actually can walk in during the day at any time on spontaneous visit. That is number one. Number two, what you might look for, of course, after licensing, you want to make sure and see if they have a computer based, very often what daycares are doing now is they have a computer that you can look through at your work. You would have a camera cam and you would actually be able to go to the web site and view the room that your child is in while you are at work. This calms a lot of parents because you could feel assured that your child is getting the best care and maybe they are taking a nap or maybe they are playing a game. The other thing you want to look for is the openness and the approachableness of all the staff members. For instance, if you have a child, let us say your child is in daycare and got bit by another child. You would want to know that that staff is going to be open to your complaint and to do something to resolve the problem, okay? So you want to know that they are approachable. So those are the tips that I can give you. You want to make sure, of course, that they are licensed. You want to see if you can have spontaneous visits, because there should be nothing to hide. You want to make sure and see if they have a computer tap-in system that you can watch from work. And you also want to make sure that they listen to you when there is a problem that you have. With that in mind, good luck with managing your daycare. Bye now.
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